HP axes 9,000 workers in automation bid

a staff writer, 1st June 2010

Hewlett Packard has confirmed that it will be laying off approximately 9,000 workers in a bid to automate its commercial data centers.

According to the Associated Press, the cuts will be made over a three year period and affect some three percent of the company's global work force of 304,000 employees.

However, HP announced plans to replace two-thirds of the dismissed workers by hiring 6,000 people to boost global sales and delivery staff.

"HP said the job cuts will result from productivity gains and automation in the data centers, which are clusters of computers that HP's business customers tap into to store data, run software and perform other tasks," reported the Associated Press.

"Like most companies that offer such services, HP has data centers around the world. Once it completes the restructuring, HP said it will see savings of about $500 million to $700 million a year."